Upgrade Your Laptop Charger

You think your power cable nightmares are bad, imagine what it’s like in the GeekGirlfriends.com real-world labs? In addition to all the gear that comes through here for review, there are two adults, one college student, and one chaos-spewing teen. Last week, I dug around the tech archives here looking for a laptop to use for design work and 3D modeling. I found two options. Each was much-loved in its day, but both had been sitting on a bookshelf for some time, long separated from their charging cables.

I dug through a tangled mess of old cables in a cardboard box, squinting my eyes to read the fine print on each one. I tried to match up various plug styles with voltages and amperage. No luck.

Then Christina handed me the Dart Universal AC Adaptor, made by FINsix. This amazing little charger comes with an array of interchangeable tips. Locate the plug tip that fits your laptop, plug the Dart into the wall, and it automatically runs a test to figure out what voltage you need and how much power to deliver. Then it does it.

This thing is incredible.

Even if you haven’t lost your power cable, the Dart is smaller and lighter than the cable that came with your laptop, and it includes a USB port so you can charge your laptop and phone at the same time from the same outlet.